Dutch press to bring reporter's killer to trial

The Dutch Government has promised to continue pressing Jakarta to prosecute the alleged killer of Dutch journalist Sander Thoenes, despite Indonesian authorities saying there is insufficient evidence.

The Dutch ambassador to Indonesia, Baron Schelto van Heemstra, said his government was involved in "a long uphill battle" for justice in the case of the journalist, who was killed in Dili in September, 1999, while reporting on the arrival of international peacekeepers.

He said the Thoenes killing was one of the best-documented cases from 1999 presented to Jakarta and he hoped it would be possible to "break through the prevalence of impunity for serious human right violations".

The ambassador was speaking in Dili where he inaugurated a memorial to the reporter, who he said was "one of many who fell victim of a true orgy of violence".

Thoenes, 30, who was working for the London Financial Times newspaper, was shot dead in the Dili suburb of Becora on September 21, 1999, when he came across a convoy of troops from Indonesia's notorious Battalion 745. ");document.write("

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He had arrived in Dili only hours before. His mutilated body was found the next day.

A Dutch police investigation has reported that it has evi-dence from witnesses that the fatal shot was fired by Camillo dos Santos, a Timorese-born lieutenant serving with Battalion 745.

Sander Thoenes' brother, Peter, said he did not expect justice from Indonesia's special court on East Timor.

"We have given up hope on Indonesia's ad hoc tribunal," he said. "They say 'yes, we will handle this case', but we know it's not politically acceptable for them to keep it open."

The Indonesian Attorney-General has refused to admit the case, saying the evidence is contradictory. But Jakarta is under increasing diplomatic pressure - mainly from the European Union and the US - to bring the perpetrators to trial.

The unveiling of the memorial to Thoenes was attended by East Timor Deputy Foreign Minister Jose Luis Guterres, diplomats from Britain, Australia, Portugal and the US, and UN staff.

Peter Thoenes, who travelled from Utrech with his wife Margreet to attend the ceremony, told The Age his elderly parents were not ready to confront the murder site.